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TurboID-charging discovery of plant pathogen virulence and host resistance mechanisms

Project description

An unusually clear look at the 'love potion' pathogens use to win over their hosts

Many pathogenic microbes inject virulence proteins (called effectors) into the host cell's cytosol to alter host processes to their advantage. To date, it is very challenging to observe these effector-host interactor pairs in action. Doing so is critical to understanding mechanisms as well as effectors and targets to combat pathogens in plants and animals, including humans. The EU-funded Turbo-MPMI-Discovery project is developing a highly sensitive and specific method to identify effector-host interactor pairs. The team will use it to study a fungus that confers immune suppression to its host mustard plant and to identify intracellular effector receptors for effectors related to pathogens from three different taxonomic kingdoms. The insight will accelerate discovery in plant-microbe interactions with important implications for feeding a growing population in the face of climate change.

Objective

"Extensive studies in the field of Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (MPMI) show that pathogens inject virulence factors (""effectors"") into host cells to manipulate host proteins and promote pathogen success. Recognition of effectors or their modified host proteins by plant intracellular receptors can activate immune responses. Identification of effector-host interactor (host target and intracellular receptor) pairs remains challenging. A more sensitive and specific approach to define effector-host interactor pairs would greatly accelerate discovery in plant-microbe interactions. Proximity labelling (PL) with biotin (""BioID"") provides a novel method to detect proteins in the vicinity of a tagged protein. Taking advantage of the recently developed (""TurboID"") allele that is highly active at ambient plant temperatures, the main goals of this project are to: 1) establish a sensitive and specific method (TurboID-based PL-MS) to identify effector-host interactor pairs; 2) use this method to identify host targets of 6 CCG effectors of oomycete Albugo candida that confer immune suppression to Arabidopsis; 3) isolate host target transcription factor TCP14-interacting effectors from pathogens from three taxonomic kingdoms, and to identify intracellular receptors CHS3 (Chilling sensitive 3)-interacting effectors. The method proposed here will break the bottleneck of defining effector-host interactor pairs and dramatically accelerate discovery in plant-microbe interactions. The identification of CCG effector targets will shed light on the strong immune suppression capacity of A. candida. My MSCA is a great opportunity for me to build on my previous international mobility from China to Canada and now to the UK, by undertaking advanced multidisciplinary ‘training-through-research’ at TSL. I shall benefit from broad technical and transferrable skills training alongside many dissemination opportunities to boost my professional visibility, leadership capacity and employability."

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Topic(s)

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MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019

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Coordinator

THE SAINSBURY LABORATORY
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 212 933,76
Address
Norwich Research Park, Colney Lane
NR47UH Norwich
United Kingdom

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Region
East of England East Anglia Breckland and South Norfolk
Activity type
Research Organisations
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 212 933,76
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